ICC fires chief prosecutor Karim Khan over sexual misconduct allegations

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Member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) fired the body’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan on Friday following sexual misconduct allegations.

Of the court’s 125 member states, 82 voted in favor of Khan’s removal in an ICC meeting in New York. The vote comes more than a month after the court suspended Khan . He had been on voluntary leave since May 2025.

Khan faced allegations made two years ago by an ICC employee who accused him of coercive sexual behavior over a 12-month period. The alleged victim, a Malaysian lawyer, first spoke publicly about the allegations in a CNN interview earlier this month.

“I have no other way to describe it but an escalation of attempts,” she said in the interview, adding that she feared for her job and hence was afraid to say “no” to Khan’s advances.

Khan has denied any wrongdoing and, according to Reuters , called the Friday vote “unlawful, procedurally unfair and unsupported by evidence.”

The vote to fire Khan comes a week after the U.S. administration announced a campaign to dismantle what it called a “threat posed by the ICC to U.S. sovereignty.” Washington argues that the court should not have the authority to investigate and prosecute U.S. citizens.

Last year, the U.S. sanctioned Khan and other ICC employees after they issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.